Marianne North, an unmarried middle-aged Victorian lady of comfortable means, set off in 1871 on her first expedition to make a pictorial record of the tropical and exotic plants of the world. Marianne produced more than 800 paintings which are housed in a special gallery at Kew. This publication provides an overview of her paintings and the Marianne North Gallery, built under her patronage, where almost all her paintings hang, the history of the gallery and its architecture and its recent restoration. The guide details Marianne's life and travels, fully illustrated throughout with her stunning botanical paintings.